Transcript FourGen Case Tools Overview - International Informix Users

Extending Informix 4GL
Programming Capabilities
Using
FourGen® CASE Tools
FourGen® CASE Tools
Highlights
 Form
Painter
 Screen Code Generator
 Featurizer
 Report Generator
 Menu’ing System
 Enterprise/iDeskTop aka ED8
 Source Code Control System
 Object Oriented Design
 XML based Schema Management Tools
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Code Generation Path
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Advantages of using FourGen CASE Tools
4 to 10 times increased productivity over
3GL development
 5 to 10 times faster than other 4GL coding
 Speeds up initial development AND
reduces ongoing cost of program
maintenance

 Over
80% of the cost of software is ongoing
maintenance
 Facilitates
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user/developer communication
Why FourGen® CASE Tools?
 Structured
Code
 Automatic Code Documentation
 Code Design Standards
 User Interface Standards
 Version Control
 Generated code is Modifiable By Design™
(MBD™)
 Multi-language Code Generation
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Why FourGen® CASE Tools?
 GUI
& Character user selected interfaces
OR
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Form Painter
 Create
new or update existing forms
 Creates
100% Informix 4GL compatible .per’s
 Various types of forms supported – header,
header/detail, query, zooms etc.
 Easy to define zooms, lookups & validation
functionality
 Link many forms – easily & effectively
 Developer-friendly interface
 Detail Explosion – Present additional detail
data on same screen
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 100%
Informix 4GL Code
 “Hooks” in generated code allows
developers to add custom code
 Organizes code into separate .4GL’s
namely
 globals.4gl,
main.4gl, header.4gl, detail.4gl,
midlevel.4gl for input screens
arrays for line items – no more
arr_max hassle
 Automatically generates GUI Code
 Dynamic
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Program
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Main – Header
FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Program
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Main – Header / Detail
FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Browse
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Form
FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Zoom
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Query
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Extension
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Form
FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Add-on
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Detail
FourGen® CASE Tools
Screen Code Generator
 Add-on
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Featurizer
 Merges
generated code & custom code
 Generated code remains untouched
 FourGen® Featurizer reads instructions in
extension files to modify source code
 With
Block commands you place code based
on the inserted block tags
 Add new business logic or customize flow
logic without modifying original source code
 Change in a screen or schema, just regenerate
code to reapply your changes
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Report Generator
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Create Informix 4GL reports programs using
report image file
Organizes code into separate .4GL’s namely
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globals.4gl, main.4gl, report.4gl, midlevel.4gl,
lowlevel.4gl for report programs
Includes the following sections
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Layout
Attributes
Select
Language
Schedule
Concurrency
FourGen® Reports presented in a
browser
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Menu’ing System
 FourGen®
 Menu
Menus
options can be single or multiple
characters with description
 Flexible menu option format
 Each menu & submenu has its own directory
 Menu option can use hotkey option
 Predefined structure can be utilized for
Enterprise Application
 Windows Explorer-like Menu interface available
via iDesktop for GUI
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FourGen® Menus
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Enterprise Desktop
 Windows
based GUI generator
 Reads
database for screens that make up a
program
 Generates VB Forms from Informix Forms
 Creates GUI Executables from VB Forms
 GUI
menu program presents menus in
Explorer-like format
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Enterprise Desktop
Win 2000
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Source Code Control System
 FourGen®
SCCS originally developed in
mid 1980’s
 Builds on top of sccs utilities in UNIX
 Advantages
 Extremely
robust
 Easy to use
 Tight control of code
 Included in FourGen® CASE Tools
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Source Code Control System
 FourGen®
SCCS primary programs
• sccs.in
Checks in files
• sccs.out
Checks out files
• sccs.stat
Status of a file or files
• sccs.sdiff
Differences between two
versions of a file
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Schema Management Tools
 FourGen
 Allows
DBmerge
you to control schema
 Provides audit trail of schema changes when
used with FourGen® SCCS
 All schema information & standard data stored
in XML format
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FourGen® CASE Tools
Schema Management Tools
 FourGen
• dbmerge
• dbdata
• dbrun
Dbmerge programs
Reads schema XML files, compares
& generates script to bring target
database current
Reads data XML files & generates
instructions to load them
Execute script file from dbmerge &
dbdata
• dbunload Unload schemas & data to XML files
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FourGen® CASE Tools
NEW FEATURES in FourGen CASE Tools V8.1
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Dynamic Array Model – No more hard coding of # of array elements.
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User Defined Notes on Screens – Multiple note types and notes for each line of detail.
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Add-on hdr/dtl, add-on view hdr/dtl, extension hdr/dtl etc. are few of new Form Types
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Detail Explosion – Detail to Detail line for hdr/dtl screens
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Zoom picker function standardized
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Grids replace temporary tables – index ‘em, random access ‘em, unload ‘em even in
.csv formats
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Primary Keys instead of Row ID’s
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Global elements reduction – scratch, sql_filter, sql_order removed – p & q variables
moved to header.4gl & detail.4gl files
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Function Metrics – Trace your program control within functions
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DB Merge Utilities Made Easy – Supports XML formats
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Defer or force referential constraints using Library Functions
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Encryption Functions available – handy for securing your info
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SIGNAL Trapping
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Archive & Purge - Set your own selection and rejection rules and save them as
catalogs for successive runs or run these programs as batch jobs.

iDesktop – GUI Front-End now available with secure shell (SSH)
communication protocol for added security.
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FourGen CASE Tools
Gillani iDistribute v8.1
A complete end-to-end Supply Chain Management solution with a unique
combination of planning, execution, collaboration and monitoring
capabilities delivering extraordinary business results for its users.
Delivered via the web, the system provides advanced Order Management
capabilities, integrated with a comprehensive Warehouse and Branch
Inventory Management and Replenishment System.
WRITTEN USING FOURGEN CASE TOOLS.
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Questions?
Contact: Sales – [email protected]
Phone: (972) 918-0400
URL: www.gillani.com
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